1 Anglo Communication Culture and Its Weight in the World Today
What Is Anglo Communication Culture?
Anglo communication culture is defined by the cultural critic Deborah Cameron (2005) as āa permanent quest for authentic, integrated and presentable selvesā. This is particularly the case in oral communication, especially the new forms of public speaking that have emerged in the first quarter of the twenty-first century. Indeed, one of their trademarks is the way the spotlight is placed on the very person of the speaker. As speakers, we are called upon to speak in our own name and express our own viewpoint. This is illustrated in the following example, transcribed from a keynote delivered by Tim Cook, CEO of Apple:
The last sentenceāāIām sure that itās going to change the worldāānot only expresses a personal stance by the speaker but also presents the speaker as someone who is invested in a mission and motivated by a noble cause. According to the definition adopted above, a speaker needs to come across as āintegrated and presentableāāthat is, as a decent and coherent human being. This is what guarantees the trust of the audience.we created Everyone Can Code, with free teaching and learning resources so that everyone can learn to code. Itās been so successful itās now available to tens of millions of students around the world. Just imagine what this new generation of coders will create. Whatever it is, Iām sure that itās going to change the world. (Tim Cook, CNBC keynote, June 4, 2018)1
Of course, creating trust and empathy with the audience has always been an essential part of rhetoric. However, it is amplified in Anglo-Saxon culture by the way speakers not only virtually take a moral stand (cf. āchanging the worldā), but also adopt a speaking persona that is likeable and friendly. They foster a ānice guyā ethos, that is to say the image she/he gives of himself/herself (see below).
A friendly persona generally coincides with a relatively casual speaking manner and use of language forms that are typical of casual conversation. In addition, it is important to appear to engage with the audience and simulate a dialogue with them. This is achieved thanks to language that involves the listener, such as the imperative form used by Cook: āJust imagine what this new generation of coders will create.ā
Importantly, these features of Anglo communication culture are adopted by non-native speakers when they deliver a speech in English. Here are two extracts from speeches. The first was given by Jack Ma, the Chinese business man who founded Alibaba, the Chinese sales platform, who addresses European business and political leaders. The second was given by a foreign PhD student studying in Australia, who explains his PhD research during a three-minute-thesis presentation:
These extracts contain the expression of personal stance: āAnd I think everybody is working hard [ā¦]ā, āAnd I strongly believe [ā¦]ā (Jack Ma); āIām sure [ā¦] you had not thought about [ā¦]ā (Munsur Rahman). In addition, they adopt language that is typical of casual conversation, such as the conversation opener āHello everyoneā used above by the PhD student Munsur Rahman, which involves the listener thanks to the inclusive pronoun āweā, for example āWe are at a great time of innovation [ā¦]ā (Jack Ma) or, again, thanks to the imperative form, for example āThink about how hard your life would be if you did not have a properly functional elbow jointā (Munsur Rahman).We are at a great time of innovation, inspiration, invention and creativity. And I think everybody is working hard, trying to realize their dreams. [ā¦] And I strongly believe itās not the technology that changes the world, it is the dreams behind the technology that changes the world. (Jack Ma, Pasifika Haina bridge conference, Germany, 2015)2Hello everyone. Today Iām going to talk about a part of your body that Iām sure, before coming here, you had not thought about as important in your daily life: the elbow joint. According to the literature, it is the most important joint of your upper extremity. Think about how hard your life would be if you did not have a properly functional elbow joint. (Munsur Rahman, three-minute-thesis presentation, University of Queensland, 2017)3
What we also need to take into account are the conditions of delivery and the way the speech is staged. In the new speaking formats of the New Oratory, which all originate from Anglo-Saxon countries, the speakerās body appears in the frontline. Just like the speakers quoted above, orators no longer hide behind a pulpit. They appear on a bare stage, in full view of the audience, against the backdrop of a now quasi-compulsory slide presentation.
Anglo Communication Culture and the Global, Digital Age
Successful public speaking in English is therefore not just about finding the right words and using the correct grammar. It also requires an awareness and mastery of the specific cultural conventions that come into play. In fact, as the new formats of the New Oratory are being adopted the world over, and sometimes in the local language, some of the features outlined above are now being adopted in speeches delivered in languages other than English. One example of this are TEDx conferences organised in non-English-speaking countries: when the talk is given in the language of the host country, it nevertheless reproduces to a tee TEDās characteristic formatting and language choices, which are a product of Anglo communication culture.
Of course, major cultural differences exist within the English-speaking world, and it would be wrong to place on a par the American and British cultures, or those of other English-speaking countries (e.g. Australia).4 When we talk about Anglo communication culture, it is generally the American variant that we have in mind, due to the influence of American culture, particularly corporate culture. And a clear link can be established between the individualistic values informing the Anglo-Saxon model of capitalism and the focus on the personal that is culturally specific.
A recent variant of American corporate culture is that provided by the start-up generation of entrepreneurs. In the global, digital age, where personal branding is more than a buzzword, communication is very much about taking a personal stand. For example, engineers no longer simply design and manufacture new products, but are called upon to play a personal role in their financing and marketing. In this case, they sell not just the product but themselves. They are the guarantor of the product. And in the new digital landscape, it is, to quote the head of TED talks, Chris Anderson (2016), the āhuman overlayā provided by an in-the-flesh speaker that puts oral presentations ahead of other types of mass communication.
However, adopting a personal voice can prove a problem for non-native speakers who come from a cultural background where it is not the norm to speak in their own name. In Anglo-Saxon countries, pupils at primary school through to students at university are generally encouraged to give various types of oral presentations, participate in debating tournaments, and so on, where ideas are discussed and debated at a personal, individual level. In contrast, in the French education system for example, rhetoric and the expression of personal ideas have traditionally been developed via writing exercises, which remain āacademic and technicalā instead of being āprofessional and personalā (Chaplier and OāConnell 2015).
In some cultures, the opportunity to speak in public is not open to everyone. For example, in some American Indian communities, only male elders are entitled to endorse the role of orator (Carbaugh 2005). They provide examples of cultures that promote a ānorm of authorityā, as opposed to the ānorm of authenticityā that informs Anglo-Saxon culture (Boromisza-Habashi et al. 2016: 28ā29). People from cultures that promote a norm of authority hold distance and objectivity in high esteem and place emphasis on āeloquence, tradition, authority, and communityā. They contrast with people from cultures that foster authenticity, which āprompts the speaker not only to speak in an authentic manner but also to be the type of authentic person to whom the audience can easily relateā. And over the past years, the norm of authenticity that epitomises Anglo-Saxon communication culture has been amplified, particularly if communication manuals are anything to go by. Manuals insist far more than in the past on the need to communicate by putting a personal slant on things and by building up a direct and intimate relationship with the audience (Sproule 2012).5
When taking the floor in English, you will appear more convincing when you display ācultural competenceā and adopt what can be described as an āAnglo-Saxonā ethos.
2 Cultural Competence: Developing an āAnglo-Saxonā Ethos
Cultural Competence as Part of Communicational Competence
Communicational competence combines several types of competency:
- A linguistic competence, specific to the language itself (e.g. English);
- A cultural competence, specific to a cultureāfor example, Anglo-Saxon culture, American culture, and British culture;
- A generic competence, specific to the genreāfor example, academic conference, political speech, three-minute-thesis presentation, investor pitch, and so onāwhich demonstrates compliance with the norms of the particular format at hand.
Cultural Competence
Culture is taken here in the wide sense, that is, as the construct based on values that are shared by members of a community which found their behaviour. Cultural competence is therefore concerned with the way you succeed in connecting with a specific community, in accordance with the system of values and beliefs that underscore it, whether this coincides with a country, a language, a profession, a sector of business, and so on. In other words, a speaker is required to nurture a way of speaking that is expected within a given community.
Cultural differences have been widely observed in the most common form of oral communication: conversation. Conversation analysts have underlined variations depending on the given culture and language at many levels: for example, the way participants take turns to speak, how pauses are used and interpreted, differences in eye contact, physical di...